Genomic characterization of a novel Hepatovirus identified in Maranhão state, Brazil.

Bats are efficient reservoirs of a number of viruses with zoonotic potential, and are involved directly in the transmission cycle of many zoonoses. In the present study, which is part of a larger project that is documenting the viromes of the bat species found in the Mid-North states of Maranhão and Piauí, we analyzed 16 pooled samples obtained from four species of bat of the genus Artibeus-Artibeus obscurus, Artibeus cinereus, Artibeus lituratus and Artibeus planirostris. We describe and identify a Hepatovirus, denominated Hepatovirus H isolate sotense, which was found in a pool of internal organs (liver and lungs) extracted from a specimen of A. planirostris, a frugivorous bat, collected in the Cerrado biome of Maranhão state. This material was analyzed using new generation sequencing, which produced a contig of 7390 nucleotides and presented a degree of identity with a number of existing Hepatovirus sequences available for bats (amino acid identity of 61.5% with Bat hepatovirus C of Miniopterus cf. manavi, 66.6% with Bat hepatovirus G of Coleura afra, 67.4% with Hepatovirus G2 of Rhinolophus landeri, and 75.3% with Hepatovirus H2 of Rhinolophus landeri). The analysis of the functional domains of this contig confirmed a pattern consistent with the characteristics of the genus Hepatovirus (Picornaviridae). In the phylogenetic tree with several other Hepatovirus species, this genome also grouped in a monophyletic clade with Hepatovirus H (HepV-H1; HepV-H2, and HepV-H3) albeit on an external branch, which suggests that it may be a distinct genotype within this species. This is the first isolate of Hepatovirus H identified in bats from South America, and represents an important discovery, given that most studies of viruses associated with bats in the state of Maranhão have focused on the family Rhabdoviridae.